Recovering from a "bad landing"

JDean3204

JDean3204

Well-Known Member
So I have been flying the line for a few months. It has honestly been the best experience of my life, I was a very low time pilot when I started my first flying job in Feb this year. I have had a good amount of experience in the 150+ hours so far, flying hard IMC and through icing has been exciting at times. The one problem I have and always seemed to have is my confidence in landing, not during optimal weather but during gusty days or in crosswind situations. The captains I fly with are very great mentors, and let me attempt to complete the landing since it is my leg. However, I sometimes need help or just botch the landing all together because I get it stuck in my own head that i am not great at putting it down in adverse conditions. This tends to lead to a snowball effect, where I cannot stop thinking about my previous landing, this in turn degrades my confidence and performance on the next flight. My question is to all of you, is that normal? I know people say they have their bad days, but it gets to the point at times where I almost give up and say "your leg next". As I know I will just be crappy at attempting the next landing if the winds are over 25-30kts or there is a crosswind over 15kts.

Everyone says practice makes perfect, which I know is true. I was very conservative during my flight training as far as conditions at a terminal area, especially crosswind landings as I know they can present a challenge. That I am starting to regret, as I try to learn how to do them with 9 paying passengers behind me. End of my self loathing rant.... :)
 
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.... And you have a confidence problem. I'm not going to sit here and blow sunshine up your.....

Everyone has off days. My first two landings at my airline were very firm. I stood outside the cockpit after landing with a **** eating grin anyway. You know what? No one said anything.

Since then, I've had mostly greasers. Again, no one says anything. Long story short, no one cares. Get out of your head, land the jet, and keep challenging yourself and keep improving. 'Merica
 
frog_flyer said:
.... And you have a confidence problem. I'm not going to sit here and blow sunshine up your.....

Everyone has off days. My first two landings at my airline were very firm. I stood outside the cockpit after landing with a **** eating grin anyway. You know what? No one said anything.

Since then, I've had mostly greasers. Again, no one says anything. Long story short, no one cares. Get out of your head, land the jet, and keep challenging yourself and keep improving. 'Merica
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As most of the captains I fly with say the same thing. Not sure why I stress over it so much, but I do. Maybe it's not normal, maybe it is. I just wanted to see if anyone else had that issue at any point in their career.

As I fly a small single turboprop, I do try to smile and wish the passengers a good day afterwards as I stand there with my s*** eating grin :D
 
I still can't land consistently, and my logbook says I've done it thousands of times.

What I can do consistently is put it down at the aiming point and validate my landing distance calculations. Smooth or "firm", that's what I'm interested in.

My best landings tend to be on horrible days, my worst on days where it's so still I'm barely touching the controls.
 
You retracted the flaps on flare? Lol

Nah, pax rarely say anything about landings. The only 2 times I've had comments about it were on my first job saying "you land better at night than on daytime!" And on my current job I've had 2-3 landing comments, but we fly to KBRO where winds are usually 20+ gusting to 30. Just learn from each one and enjoy!

Take care
 
I have had my fair share of bad landings between the CASA, 207, and SAAB. Especially the 207.

My first time with a 30 knot crosswind in the SAAB was ugly. Even the rampers asked me if it was my landing. Once inside the terminal a couple passengers asked if it was my first landing. Nope. Just my first on a typical Unalakleet day.

I still struggle with crosswinds from the right.

Dont let it bother you. We all have rough days.
 
Who cares of it was a plunker, or a greaser. Don't beat yourself up over it. If you didn't leave any parts behind, and it wasn't a rubber jungle back there, it was a good one in my book.
 
frog_flyer said:
.... And you have a confidence problem.
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I'd agree with the above statement. Sounds like a confidence issue rather than skill. Almost sounds like you put this thought in your head that you can't do it properly, so you give up control to the guy next to you.

We all have bad landings, but I forget about it the moment I strap myself back into the airplane though. In your explanation it sounds like you carry your bad landing onto the next leg. If you're seriously concerned about being able to handle the aircraft in gusty conditions, then let a company instructor know.
 
Seriously though, one day it will just "click" and you will wonder what the fuss is all about. This isn't to say you won't have a bad landing after that, because you will.

I feel like I'm streaky with my landings. I go through a period where I can close my eyes and always have a greaser, followed by a period where I can't even buy a great landing.
 
I had a 1500 hour pilot who couldnt not do good landings in a new type... we tried and tried. Finally I said "Are you looking down the runway?" From then his landings were good. Who would have ever thought to tell a 1500 hour pilot to look down the runway? Its natual when trying to do a good job or nervous to bring your eyes close in.
 
As long as you don't try to land on the nose gear or, if you bounce a little try to push the nose down you should be fine.
 
I know we all want to have the smoothest landing possible, but you get paid to accomplish a safe landing. If it happens to be a greaser, that is a bonus. I wouldn't expect to "roll it on" in high wind or high crosswind conditions.

Some days I can't buy a smooth landing, other days it seems like they are all great.
 
JDean3204 said:
As most of the captains I fly with say the same thing. Not sure why I stress over it so much, but I do. Maybe it's not normal, maybe it is. I just wanted to see if anyone else had that issue at any point in their career.

As I fly a small single turboprop, I do try to smile and wish the passengers a good day afterwards as I stand there with my s*** eating grin :D
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Meh.........it really is a confidence and experience thing. One of my first landings in a large pax jet in perfect conditions, I flared for so long while eating up the runway, the Captain finally just calmly said, "You can set her down anytime you'd like to now". Then I plunked her down, not hard but certainly not soft or smooth either. I ate up so much runway that when we finally slowed down after landing he said, "well it's a short trip to the gate at least." lol

Sometimes we live to much in our heads and tend to over think the process. try to relax, shut out the past and just concentrate on the present, the feel of the aircraft and what you already know how to do. You'll get there just fine.

When you're an old Captain with a boatload of greasers under your belt in even the crappiest wx and you occasionally cock one up, you can just make the F/O stand at the door to say the buh byes to the pax.
 
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